Global Insights: On the Ground for Kazakhstan's Elections

On Jan. 15, in polling that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) characterized as not meeting the “fundamental principles of democratic elections,” the ruling Nur Otan party of Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev won just more than 80 percent of votes cast and 83 out of 108 seats in Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament, the Majilis. The OSCE, which had the largest and longest election observation mission in the country, cited the exclusion of opposition parties as well as numerous problems with counting and other violations at some of the polling places they monitored in concluding that the ballot had fallen short of international standards for free and fair elections.

Notwithstanding the shortcomings, recent changes in Kazakhstan’s electoral procedures allowed two additional parties, albeit ones that support the government, to win seats in the Majilis, which was previously wholly filled by representatives of the Nur Otan party. ...